The Opposition hit out at the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led state government for choosing a colour, which is associated with right-wing activists and is also considered a favourite of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Official quarters of Muzaffarnagar police were painted saffron by the Yogi government on Tuesday (News18)

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Lucknow: After Shastri Bhawan and Lucknow Haj House, the saffron splash has now covered the residential quarters of police officers in Muzaffarnagar, triggering sharp criticism from the Opposition.

“The row over colour is unnecessary. Renovation work is being carried out in the police lines and, hence, the building will be painted. If not saffron, then some other colour will be chosen. But it cannot be left colourless,” Police Line SP BB Chaurasiya said, adding that other proposed work in the residential colony will be done soon.

However, local residents feel that the saffron colour has been chosen by the state government as earlier the walls were yellow, and they had never raised an objection to it.

The Opposition hit out at the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led state government for choosing a colour, which is associated with right-wing activists and is also considered a favourite of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

“Will painting walls saffron bring down the crime graph in the state? Or will it curb down the crimes against women, which is on an all-time high under the current government? The current government is busy changing colours and has forgotten why the people of UP voted them to power,” Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Anshu Awasthi told News18.

Recently, Lucknow's Qaiser Bagh police station was painted in saffron, while a temple with saffron hue was constructed on the premises of Gomtinagar police station.

In January this year, the walls of Hajj House near the Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow were painted saffron, inviting criticism from the opposition.

A day later, it once again got a new coat of paint - this time off-white – as the authorities went in damage control mode. Secretary of the UP State Hajj Committee, RP Singh, had blamed the contractor for painting the “non-prescribed” shade. “The wall colouring work was going on and the contractor was told to paint a different colour, but the contractor coloured the walls in a different shade,” he had said in a press release.

The walls of the CM’s Secretariat, also known as Annexe, were coloured Saffron in October 2017. In October the same year, CM Yogi Adityanath had launched a fleet of 50 busses which were coloured Saffron.